The present invention relates to locking archery bows, and more particularly, to adjustable archery bow lock to prevent dry firing or otherwise unwanted firing of a bow as to not cause damage to the bow or injury to a person.
FIG. 1 illustrates an archery bow 10 drawn ready to be shot or fired. The vertical bow string shown in dash lines 40a illustrates the resting state of the archery bow 10. A compound bow 10 has a riser or frame 20 and a bow string 30. The riser 20 includes a lower portion 22 with a limb 22a, an upper portion 24 with a limb 24a, and a handle portion 25 with a grip. The compound bow 10 has a pulley or cam 42 at the end of the lower portion 22a and a pulley or cam 44 at the end of the upper portion 24a. The bow string 30 extends between the cam 42 and cam 44. The cams 42, 44 provide a mechanical advantage to the archer when drawing the bowstring 30.
The bowstring 30 includes at least two sections 40a, 40b extending between the cams 42, 44. Bowstring section 40a is the section on which an arrow 50 is knocked. On some bows, bow string sections 40b are referred to as a cable. Mounted on the riser 20 above the shelf 35 of the bow 10 is an arrow rest 36, which supports an arrow 50 while the archer is preparing to shoot. Some compound bows 10 also have a cable guide 52 and a cable slide 54.
Archery Bows are available for inspection by archers and consumers at retail, archery shooting lanes designed for practice shooting and at outdoor trade shows. Unlike guns, archery bows are readily available for any person to pick up at home or off a rack and inspect the bow. Many bows are designed with significant “let off” representing a significant amount of poundage reduction to hold the bow in the firing position after it is fully drawn. Many bows have design letups between 20 and 40%. Naturally, people are not given arrows during their inspection of new and used archery bows. Consequently, many people attempt to draw the bow back towards “wall” position without an arrow ready for firing to feel the let off.
A fully drawn bow without an arrow in place to be fired is potentially very hazardous to the individual who has drawn the bow back and similarly could be very destructive to the bow itself if the testing person releases or “dry fires” the bow, even if accidentally. Firing or releasing an archery bow without an arrow causes enough shock and vibration that the bow may actually break apart or “blow up” with the limb portions 22a and 24a actually delaminating causing bow parts as enumerated above to blow up, break apart and to go flying in all different directions causing potential significant harm to bystanders and the person inspecting the bow.
There is a significant need for an adjustable archery bow lock that will secure the archery bow to be inspected into a steady resting state not permitting the bow to be drawn which could possibly result in a dry fire and damage the bow as well as hurt people.